


An empty easel

by Alexis_universe



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Pearl's fight for freedom, Pearl's origins, Slavery, The Beginning, gem blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9417443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexis_universe/pseuds/Alexis_universe
Summary: Gems are made with a purpose...Except for Pearl.





	1. Purposeless

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Leave a comment if you liked this!

Every gem is made with one single purpose in mind.

While the Diamonds emerged from Homeworld with the purpose of being superior, Some of their creations were made to excel in combat, others to have the sole purpose of expanding their empire, and some anothers were made having cultural development in mind.

However, there is a single type of gem, that doesn't have any purpose at all: the pearls.

Most Homeworld Gems –Especially the gems in the lower castes.– Thought that they were a waste of resources, as they were made with the same quantity of materials needed to make any other Era One gem. However, the Diamonds and some of the other members of the elite didn't minded, as the pearls' would do the menial tasks they wouldn't do.

These gems had the only mission of being a decoration or toy for the upper class and they would obey any order without hesitation.

 

Until the renegade appeared.

 

It all started when a chalcedony member of the White court that had been sent to earth, punished her pearl for petty mistakes every day. Insulting her for being inferior than her every time she had the chance, and hitting her whenever she slacked off, even if she just walked at a slower pace than her.

One day, the pearl, filled with hatred towards her master, decided to escape. She knew that she was going to be shattered for her actions, but she wanted to see the high ranking quartz suffer so much, that she didn't minded the punishment for her actions.

The pearl stole a sword from her master's armory and stored it inside of her gem.

She waited for an opportunity to attack, a single moment of unawareness from her master.

When that moment finally came, the pearl had backstabbed the quartz in the intimacy of the chalcedony's office.

In a single motion, she pulled out the sword out of the gem's chest, dodged a hard punch from her enemy with the grace and elegance she had since she emerged out of the ground, and dug up her blade into the gem's skull, right where the milky white gemstone rested.

The pearl shouted at her, telling her a vast quantity of insults as she twisted her blade in its place, cracking up the gem even further as light blue blood poured out from the wound.

The soldier's body disappeared in a flash of light and smoke when the pearl pulled out her sword. Her damaged core falling to the floor with a little clatter.

The pearl stepped on the faceted stone before crushing it under her feet, completely erasing the Quartz's existence from the cosmos.

The lithe gem cleansed up her outfit and her hands, eliminating the evidence of blood from her body.

She saved the sword inside her gem once more and proceeded to walk out of the scene.

When someone asked her where she was going, she said that her master had sent her to some errands and walked away without calling any attention.

It was when she had passed the door of the spire that the alarms began to sound, encouraging her to run as fast as she could into the forest that was in front of her.

Since then... The rumor of a killer pearl began to spread across the colony.


	2. Choice

The runaway pearl spent a couple of days hidden inside a cave, far away from the spire's grounds.

Terror ran through her construct as the consequences of her actions began to be appear in front of her. Now she had complete squadrons of angered quartzes that wanted to shatter her in revenge for their commander.

However, she didn't found in herself regretting her actions. She was now free. And even the feeling of dread that the possibility of a quartz finding and shattering her gave her was nothing compared to the unbridled joy that her newfound freedom granted her.

She remained in that strange state between sheer joy and utter fear for some days, hidden in her refuge until she heard the unmistakable sound of a quartz's footsteps.

She cowered in her hideout as the warrior came closer, freezing in fear as she saw pink curls outside of the cave she was inside.

The pearl took a step backwards, a splashing sound was made when her foot touched a puddle in the ground.

"Hello?" The quartz said. "Is anybody there?"

The lithe gem pulled out the weapon from her gem, her hands were shaking in fear.

The gem thought that if she didn't moved at all, The quartz would go away.

However, her hopes of being left alone vanished when the other gem entered the cave while saying: "I'm going in!"

The pearl's heart began to race as the soldier advanced through her refuge. It almost stopped when she passed right next to her and didn't saw her.

Without missing a beat, The pearl pressed the tip of her blade against the warrior's back slightly.

"Don't move." The pearl said with a hard and authoritarian whisper, managing to hide her conflictive emotions from the other gem.

The quartz did as she said without any hesitation.

"Are there any other quartzes with you?" The armed one asked.

"No." The hostage said. "I'm alone."

"How did you find me?" She asked with a hint of relaxation.

"I was walking through the forest when I saw what I thought that was some animal's tracks." She said with a level voice. "I followed them and I ended up in front of your cave."

The pearl let out a sigh and relaxed the grip on her sword for a split second, before attempting to slash her torso.

However, the pearl stopped in her tracks when the other spoke again.

"I've heard about what you've done, Pearl." She said. "And even though I would've avoided killing her, I must say that I'm really impressed."

The pearl was confused, as the quartz's words didn't harbored anger or disdain; Instead, they carried amazement and admiration.

"Why'd you did it, Pearl?" The quartz asked. "Why'd you shattered her?"

The gem's grip on her sword tightened up at those words, as she thought about them as an order.

She moved in front of the quartz with her sword pointing at the hostage.

"I'm not going to tell you anything, quartz." She said intimidatingly. "I'm not going to obey your kind anymore."

The quartz's expression didn't changed. Her calm and empathetic look tried to soothe the hard temperament of the gem in front of her.

"You wanted to be free, don't you?" She said. "But you had to cut off the links holding you to Homeworld. That's why you killed her, didn't you?"

"And so if I did?!" The pearl snapped at her. "All she ever did was yelling at me, and hitting me, and forcing me to do stuff I didn't wanted!" She pressed the tip of the blade under her chin. "When I heard in her meetings that there was a gem that destabilized her supervisor and escaped from her base, I wanted to be like her, even if though I'm a pearl."

"What do you know about that gem?" The other one asked.

"I heard that one of Pink Diamond's earth-made quartzes became rouge and then escaped after defeating the agate in charge of her base." She said.

"Do you know anything else about her?" The quartz asked her with a small grin.

"Only that she was a rose quartz..." She said, finally noticing that the gem in front of her was different from the white, black and gray quartzes that served under White Diamond's command. Her skin was peach in color and her hair was a vibrant pink. Her uniform was pink instead of white, and had a flower shaped hole in her navel, a pink faceted gem rested on it.

Realization struck her when the identity of her hostage was revealed.

"You're her..." The pearl said awestruck, lowering her sword. "You're the rose quartz they were talking about..."

"I certainly am, Pearl." She said.

"Why'd you escaped?" The pearl asked. "You're a quartz, your class above every other gem."

"That's not true." She said. "The Diamonds are still over us quartzes, you know."

"Did your diamond did something horrible to you?" The pearl asked.

"No." The quartz said. "I escaped because she wants do something even worse."

"Something worse?" The pearl asked.

"She wants to turn this planet into a colony."

"What...?" She said confused.

"I'm sure that you know how gem colonies are made, Pearl." The pink gem said. "They suck the life out of a planet, and make it an empty shell that only the upper class can inhabit."

"I know. The chalcedony I came with had orders to supervise the development of the colony." Pearl said. "But that's the way we gems live. We can't change that."

"That's where you're wrong, Pearl." The rose quartz said. "We don't do this for our survival, We do it for the diamonds' ambition."

"But there's nothing you can do to stop them for turning the planet into a colony." The pearl said. "Even I know that it doesn't matter how much time I hide from them, They will find me eventually and then I'll be harvested for killing a high ranking officer."

"You won't be harvested by anyone, Pearl."

"Of course I will!" The lithe gem snapped at her once more. "I'm just a pearl. No one will stop Homeworld from killing a worthless gem such as me!"

"I will!" The gem said reassuringly. The pearl stared at her with something akin to hope. "And in the case I cannot fulfill my promise, I'll show you ways to protect yourself."

"Why?" The pale gem said. "Why are you so willing to do that for me?"

"Because You're something completely different for Homeworld." The quartz answered. "You're the only pearl that I've seen that has actually done something for herself." She took the blade away from the other gem's limp hand and threw it to the ground. She then held the slim gem's hands in the most careful way the pearl had ever felt. "You now represent the one thing that Homeworld despises more than anything else: You represent choice."

This left the other gem speechless, as no one had ever talked about her like a person before.

"And now you must choose the path that will decide your fate..." The taller gem locked her dark eyes with the pastel blue ones of the other.

The pearl, encouraged by the other's words, pondered her immediate options. She could stay in her cave, awaiting for the inevitable meeting with the quartzes that wanted her gem made into dust. Or, she could join the rose quartz, and risk her newfound freedom to protect this little ball of dirt from the diamonds' ambition.

"What would happen if you manage to get rid of the diamonds?" The pearl asked.

"I'll turn the planet into a sanctuary." The other gem said. "A sanctuary for gems like you and me: Gems that want to choose what they to be by themselves without the fear of Homeworld shattering them for be unfitting." Literal stars began to burn in the quartz's eyes as she told her dream to the former servant. "I'll make of this planet a place where everyone can fit: Gems and organic life forms alike."

The pearl pictured herself in that idealistic future, and saw herself living in a world where no one told her what to do, a world where she mattered as a person and not like an object. A world where she didn't had to be living in fear of someone else.

"Then count on me, rose quartz." She said. "I'll help you to achieve this world of equality of you wish."

"Oh Pearl, don't say it like that, It feels like you belong to me. And please, just call me Rose." The bigger gem corrected neatly.

"Oh... Sorry..." The white gem said, before Rose gave her sword back.

The other just let out a small chuckle.

"Come on Pearl... I know of a better place to begin your training." Rose said, making a small smile to appear on Pearl's face.

"O-Ok" She said before beginning to walk outside of the cave.


End file.
